EARLY SYMPTOMS OF OVARIAN CANCER

Background: Ovarian cancer is the sixth most prevalent cancer among women and the most common cause of death in the gynecological cancers. Due to their histological structure, ovarian tumors are variable and they have wide nonspecific primary clinical symptoms. The aim of this study was to determine the early symptoms of ovarian cancer in Shahid Rajaee and Rouhani hospitals of Babol.

Materials and Methods: This retrospective study was performed on 71 patients with ovarian cancer who were referred to Shahid Rajaee and Rouhani hospitals of Babol. Information recorded included demographic data, symptoms of cancer, and results of histological and staging type of tumor. All data was analyzed with SPSS 18 software.

Results: Seventy-one patients with mean age of 49.11 ± 17.35 years were diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Abdominal pain was the first symptom in 70.4% of patients, followed by ascites 19.7%, abnormal uterine bleeding 5.6%, and abdominal mass 4.2%. Epithelial tumors were the most frequent pathology seen in 57 cases (80.3%), after which germ cell tumor and sex-cord tumor were seen at 12 (16.9%) and two (2.8%) cases, respectively.

Conclusion: Symptoms of ovarian cancer in women, especially older women, such as abdominal pain, abdominal mass, ascites and abnormal vaginal bleeding, need to be considered and evaluated to help doctors and patients to understand the changes associated with this prevalent cancer.